Group wants to dredge river for '56 bomber wreck

Jul. 25, 2014 - 10:35AM
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HOMESTEAD, PA. — A group that’s spent nearly 20 years trying to find the wreckage of a World War II-era bomber that crashed into a Pittsburgh-area river is seeking permission to dredge the waterway for wreckage.

The B-25 Recovery Group tells KDKA-TV they’ve asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for permission to dig beneath the Monongahela River near the Homestead Grays Bridge.

The plane, a bomber converted to a training aircraft, was flying from Nevada to Harrisburg when it ran out of fuel and ditched in the river on Jan, 31, 1956. Since the wreckage had never been publicized, conspiracy theories have sprung up about whether the plane remains in the river or has already been carted away by the military.

The group believes the plane came to rest in a trench and has been covered by silt.